Reopening beaches in Barcelona

Explore what Barcelona’s 4.5 km of beaches have to offer!

On Monday 8th of June, Barcelona opened beaches again for its citizens sub-monitoring. On the weekend, the weather encouraged people to enjoy beaches. As a result, municipal workers had to redistribute bathers to other beaches (Nova Icària and Bogatell beaches) as social- distancing could not be respected. According to El Paìs, Nova Icària and Bogatell beaches exceeded 80% capacity.

Moreover, Spain opening borders for EU countries on the 21st of June and Sant Joan’s day lead to a massive arrival of individuals who want to spend time on Barcelona’s beaches. Because of this, some beaches had to be closed to prevent risk of any COVID-19 contagion.

However, Ciutat Vella’s beaches avoided restrictions because they were less crowded. This means that the opening of beaches in the city remains on the capacity of people to respect social-distancing. The city’s beaches can only contain between 25,000 and 38,000 people to guarantee social-distancing according to Barcelona City Hall.

The question we now face is whether this will be a recurring issue. With borders open and less restrictions, it is allowing more movement. Especially for Brits who are desperate for a bit of sun before winter hits. But at what cost? As we can see, beaches have already had to be shut down, hopefully this issue won’t happen again.

A beach in Barcelona on the 14th of June